STRAWBERRY GROWING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143980, 24 December 1912, Page 7

STRAWBERRY GROWING.

Having in mind the high prices ruling for strawberries, and the open-air conditions under which the industry is. carried on, some people perhaps think strawberry-growing is an easy . and very, pleasant way of earning a fairly good; living. The other- side of the picture is presented in an article in the New Zealand Herald on strawberry-growing on the northern shores of the , Waitemata, where, the industry.-.has. grown to large, proportions. Expert knowledge and hard and unremitting work are essentials,; to success, and the risk, of failure is considerable. . To begin with the plants have to be chosen carefully, and. growers differ as, to what are the best of. the sixty, tried, varieties. The soil has.to .be carefully prepared, and “no garden culture exalte more" meticulous care 1 ’ than this. Manuring and mulching cost £ls an acre in the Auckland gardens. The plants must be sprayed every ten days to prevent blight attacking them, and weeded , continuously, for even • the smallest •quantity of weeds interferes with proper bearing. Later, on straw must be' laid down for the berries to ripen on cleanly, and it must bo free of weeds, seeds' and blight. Then the grower is also .faced with bird nuisance, and has to devise methods to check it. And there is, always the weather ; if the grower has n/,t ihado provision for artificial watering, a fortnight’s drought-, in November or December nil] ruin his crop. Yet a really, good season means such an abundance ,of fruit that prices fall so low that there is not a: groat deal of profit in the business. Picking and packing, must be done with great care. The least roughness of, touch, on an Auckland strawberry causes it to rot before it reaches the consumer, and an unsound berry will aifect a whole box. The picking is done between four and six in the morning, and from five in the afternoon until dark, Women and girls are found to do better than men at picking, and many schoolchildren earn ten shillings, a week at this, work. As for profits, it is estiraated that it costs the grower £75 to put £IOO worth of ; fruit on the, market, and that when the price to him falls to 6d a box; he, does not make anything. Strawberries were selling in the, Auckland shops, last week at from 9d to Is a box, and it was anticipated that prices would bo lower this week. - •’